Freedom High Bomb-Plotter to Plead No Contest

Jared Cano, the teen arrested last year for plotting to blow up Freedom High School, plans on pleading no contest to the charges against him.

Tbo.com reports that Cano's attorney told a judge Wednesday about the defense's plea, which will be entered Oct. 16. Cano, however, will plead guilty to drug charges against him that were levied when authorities found marijuana at his home.

A then-17-year-old Cano was arrested last August after authorities received a tip from an unnamed student about Cano’s intentions to wreak havoc on the first day of the 2011-2012 school year at Freedom — the same school that had expelled him.

The defense had argued that Cano only mentioned the threat to the student and not the school itself, and that the bomb-making materials — shrapnel, tubing, timing devices — would not have actually worked anyway.

But the judge upheld the charges against Cano, now 18.

In reference to the bomb attack, Cano is facing two charges that carry up to 15 years each, according to tbo.com: threatening to discharge a destructive device, and attempting to discharge a destructive device. 

One of Cano's drug charges carries up to a one-year penalty, while the other carries up to a five-year penalty, according to www.tbo.com.

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